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In an ongoing price war that has been heating up with fast food competitors this year — driven in part by cheap commodities — McDonald's is making a long-term commitment to a new kind of low-cost deal, one that frees restaurants from the $1 price point of yesteryear.

The chain today said its « McPick 2 » deals — which give customers a rotating menu of items to build a cheap, two-piece snack or meal, or two items to share — are now part of the company's value offerings nationwide. « We are committed to making McPick 2 our value platform that will continue to evolve over the foreseeable future, » McDonald's spokeswoman Lainey Garcia told BuzzFeed News in an email.

For those who don't want to « McPick » two things, the Everyday Value Menu (formerly the Dollar Menu & More, though few things there still cost $1) will still be available.

Chains like Wendy's and Burger King have also focused on bundle deals (offering four or five items for $4), and some customers have been left missing simple old dollar menus, which allowed them to actually spend just a dollar.

In summer of 2015, McDonald's offered a two for $2.50 combo, but it wasn't until November that the company filed to trademark « McPick. »

It then offered a McPick 2 deal this past January, offering two items for $2, and in March relaunched it as a two-for-$5 deal after franchisees complained that $2 was just too low.

One operator went as far as to call the $2 deal « the most devastating promotion to operator cash flow we have run in the past 10 years » in an analyst survey.

McDonald's CEO Steve Easterbrook told investors in April the McPick 2 framework gives the chain flexibility in terms of region, price, and variety. « You will see us dial it up and down, national and local, but the one thing you will always see, there will always be value at McDonald's, » he said.